Luke 1:5 - 2:15 - Christmas reminds us of God, the Father who lives in us

We are going to talk about Jesus and as the world is celebrating Christmas, for us Christians, it is a matter of remembering the birth not only of the child that is born but the birth of our saviour in our world.

Luke 1:5- 2:15

For Jesus to be born, for me personally and for the Christian community, it was a symbol of God’s love to send His only Son to come to earth to live among us and save us.  It was a way of teaching us human beings that we can’t complain because He knows what we live and has experienced what we go through and He understands pain, problems and challenges.  Therefore, all your problems will find a solution in Jesus

There are similarities in the birth of Jesus and John.  The parents of John were an old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had fought for years to have a child but couldn’t have one.  Then the angel Gabriel came to Zechariah, “Your wife will conceive and you will name the child John and this boy will bring Israelites to God but John should never drink alcohol or live this type of life”.

Gabriel was sent to Mary to bring the same message, “You will conceive and get pregnant and have a child and his name shall be Emmanuel”.  Mary was a virgin and was told she will conceive with the power of the Holy Spirit. They both gave birth to boys. 

If we look carefully, the Bible is trying to teach us the resemblance between the birth of these two.  They were both miraculous births but on one side, a human being as a servant of God was born and on the other side, God himself was born.

As we celebrate Christmas, many celebrate the birth of John the Baptist and not Jesus.  The angel Gabriel came to Zechariah, a servant of God who had worked for many years in the temple.  Zechariah couldn’t speak from that day on.  When Elizabeth became pregnant, the Holy Spirit was with Elizabeth and living with John.  When Mary and Elizabeth met, the power could be felt between the two babies. 

John came to preach the gospel to Israel and bring them to God while Jesus came to preach the gospel and bring the entire earth to God’s Kingdom.  Many people go to church and they experience the Word of God, they listen and they take it as physical only.  The message enters their lives but is limited to only what their ears and minds can receive and does not allow the Holy Spirit to act in them.  Therefore, they can also tell you, I have read the Bible and heard that message but they don’t change their lives. 

John was in the womb and connected to Jesus but he was not Jesus.  When you receive a message, do you connect that message to Jesus who lives in you?  When you read the Bible, do you understand that it is the Word of God and you respect it as the Word of Go?  Children respect the word of their parents.  We must respect our parents.

For John who was preaching the gospel, he reached a point where he said, “it is not me, follow Him”.  He told all them, “Don’t follow me, follow Him, he is the Lamb of God, go to Jesus”.  Many of us will stop where we are in our church, in our knowledge, and stories we hear and don’t have the courage to move forward to follow Jesus.

John was a good preacher and a good guy and was baptising people but he was sending them to Jesus.  Do you send yourself to Jesus sometimes?  When your thoughts go too far away, do you tell your mind, the solution is with Jesus.  “My thoughts, I cannot respond to that, Jesus is the answer”.  I try to do something, and I can’t do it, turn to Jesus, He is the answer.  Some on the earth will see servants of God when they have problems, “Support me, pray for me,” which is good but the last word is to go to Jesus.

When we celebrate Christmas, we remember the birth of Jesus.  What is a birthday?  Is it about their birth?  We can eat and drink or should we stop and praise God for having the privilege to have that child among us.  Usually when we celebrate birthdays, we have cake, food, singing, and we want to look nice.

How old were you last year Anna? 12 and now you are 13.  Can you go back to 12?  No, we must remember that Jesus was born in us last year and He should not be treated as a baby in our lives as we did yesterday.  We can’t say we are spiritual babies forever.  When we are 20 years living with Jesus in us, should we continue to treat Him as a child?

God has never been a child but people treat Him as one, “I don’t care what God thinks”.  We do what we want when and how we want, we don’t fear Him to be a father and because of lack of respect and fear we celebrate year after year that Jesus was born and is a child in us but we should celebrate the Father in us. 

Christmas should be the remembrance of God living in us (Emmanuel) rather than a baby born in Bethlehem.  We should think of him as Emmanuel in our lives.  Where is he living now?  If Bethlehem is my body, is Jesus really living in me? For the past 20 years, you have been experiencing living with Jesus. 

If you ask Colleen, who is Keith, she will know him very well. She know what he likes and doesn’t like, “Honey what do you want for dinner,” and it will be up to Colleen to cook for him.  Keith knows who is Colleen.  Jesus knows who we are and we know who Jesus is.  What is our duty to this God?  He gave us salvation and we have been living together for years but we still continue to act foolishly against God who gave His life for us.

When a husband and wife live together and there is a misunderstanding, they may end up deciding not to continue and to fix the problem but if one doesn’t want to fix the problem, there will not be stability in the family. 

Today Jesus is 2020 years old.  He is very old isn’t he.  We can glorify him on Christmas day but after the celebration we are mean to Jesus with our actions and words.  In the morning, “We love you Jesus,” and by the evening, do I even care.  I only care about my own life.  “I had a lot of problems today and God you did nothing”.

Keith can be there reading his book but Colleen knows what to do for her husband.  In his heart Keith is glorifying God for such a woman.  Jesus is the husband of the church.  When it is the birthday of a dad in the family, what happens?  The whole family will celebrate.  Who are we going to celebrate with this Christmas?  The angels came down when Jesus was born and celebrated and informed the shepherds.  Who are you going to inform about Emmanuel in your life?

One time in my dream, I became a santa and I had a big bag and I was going door after door and if you open, I give you something and I was giving small boxes with Bible verses.  They would open it and throw it away.  I’m giving those Bible verses but they don’t accept them.  Another santa was offering chocolates and everyone was receiving those chocolates with joy.

When it is time to inform the world about who Emmanuel is among us they do not want to receive it.  You can invite people for food and BBQ and they will come but they won’t want to listen to the Word of God. 

The angels celebrated but many people did not go to Bethlehem.  Don’t stop to remember that you have someone who was born several years ago.  When others are not singing, sing for your Lord, don’t be ashamed, He loves worship.  If you put all your mind in someone who can perform miracles or is anointed, you can learn from that person but if you want the true salvation, go to Jesus.  Don’t stick with John but move to follow Jesus and be his disciple.

Put all in Jesus not in your church or denomination.  Jesus only had 12 disciples.  Please come in and join those 12.  John will never say no to his disciples to move to Jesus.  Be with Jesus and be a disciple of Jesus and it is up to you to decide how to become one and when and what is your role as a disciple.

Christmas is not a word from the Bible but it encourages us to be near Jesus.  The wise men brought their gifts and no one else brought gifts.  The entire world was expecting the baby to be born, how many prepared gifts for Jesus?  When was the last time you gave to Jesus and what type of gift was it?

One gave perfume that smelt good and one gave gold which was full of value.  They tried to find something special to give to God. What is the most important and special thing in your life that you can offer to Jesus?  They didn’t fear the darkness (it was night time).  I have lots of problems and challenges, I can’t offer my life to Jesus.  Darkness can’t stop you from offering your life to Jesus.

After the wise men left, the angels told the parents of Jesus to leave.  They left for Egypt.  It might be late for you if you delay and you don’t offer your life and something special for Jesus, you might find He is gone.  Life is short.  If you want to enjoy life, don’t enjoy it here on earth but prepare to enjoy heaven which is eternity. 

I wish you all a wonderful, peaceful year and a year of change and things that didn’t work previously will work this year,  pray 2021 will be a year of victory as we prepare for Jesus coming back.

John 1-3

By Hayley Boud

 

I recently watched the movie, “Gospel of John” and was reminded of my salvation.  When the right time came, the Holy Spirit touched me and I followed Jesus.  I believe this is the same for all who are saved.

 

The movie of John started with John the Baptist who said in John 1:35, “Behold the Lamb of God”.  Two of John’s disciples heard John and followed Jesus.  These two men spent the whole day with Jesus.  One of the two men (Andrew) was obviously touched by the Holy Spirit because after spending the day with Jesus, he then went to find his brother and told him, “we have found the Messiah”.  Andrew then brought his brother to Jesus. 

 

This reminds me of my own salvation because I had been going to a Bible study for a number of years and had heard the message but it was only by the Holy Spirit did I understand that Jesus is the Messiah (the Anointed One = the way, the truth and the life).  I can’t take any credit for being saved, it is God’s gift revealed through His Holy Spirit. 

 

I think it’s also important to remember that John the Baptist spoke words that revealed to Andrew that Jesus is the Lamb of God.  Andrew then passed on the message to his brother.  Therefore, our salvation was the result of God’s servants passing on the message to us and if we want others to be saved, we have to be active in sharing the truth.  We don’t have to freak out and fear what we will say because we can keep it simple and just say one sentence at a time.  All John said was five words and it was enough for Andrew to follow Jesus.  Andrew only spoke five words too.

 

If we want those around us to follow Jesus, the important thing is to pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to speak through us.  We need to ask the Holy Spirit to help those around us to understand God’s Word and for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth.  We can say a whole lot of words but without the Holy Spirit, those words will be useless.  We can say only five words and with the Holy Spirit, our friends, our family, our work colleagues, they can begin to follow Jesus.

 

When Jesus saw Simon, He called him Cephas which means Peter.  The next day Jesus found Philip and said, “Follow me”.  So he did.  When Jesus calls you, you somehow know it’s God and you follow.  It’s a miracle.  How could Philip know it was God?  Imagine you are doing your own thing and someone says, “follow me”.  For example, today my dog peed in my car.  If I didn’t clean up the mess, the pee would really smell after some time in that hot Hamilton sun.  After a few days, my car would stink so bad. 

 

Imagine if Bertila said, “Take me to the supermarket, now”.  First I would think how rude is this girl.  She speaks in the imperative, demanding me to do something without even asking me nicely or using the word please.  So rude!  Then I would think, I have better things to do such as cleaning my car.  I would even think that Bertila is selfish for expecting me to just drop what I’m doing to take her to the supermarket.  The only way I would do that, is if the Holy Spirit revealed to me.

 

I think the fact that Philip followed Jesus is a miracle.  I think the fact that we are all gathered here tonight as followers of Jesus is a miracle.  How did we know to follow Jesus?  How did we know it was God calling us?  Let’s remember tonight the miracle of salvation and let’s thank God for all He has done for us.  When Jesus was on earth, He didn’t tell every person He met to follow Him.  There were only 12 disciples.  We are privileged to be one of Christ’s disciples.  Let’s be grateful and let’s also find ways of sharing this with others.  It’s easy to tell someone a simple story of how God has help us. 

 

We can read in John 1:45 that Philip went and found Nathanael and said, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Joseph”.  Only the Holy Spirit could have revealed that truth to Philip but ALSO he would have had to have read the scriptures to know that he had found the one the scriptures talk about. 

 

Therefore, it is important to read ALL of the Bible.  We should not think that the Holy Spirit is all we need to teach us and lead us.  We need to make an effort to read the Word of God so that the Holy Spirit can teach us and lead us.  If we don’t read the Word of God, we will become confused and can easily be led astray.  We might follow after another god because we don’t know what is written in the scriptures. 

 

Mathew 24:4-5, “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘See to it that no one misleads you.  For many will come in My name, saying ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many”.  We have to be careful because many will be misled.  Not just a few but many.  I have seen it already where Christians are too lazy to read the Word of God and prefer to listen to preachings without checking if it matches the Bible.  Let’s not be among those that are misled but be like Philip who knew the Law and knew what the Prophets had said. 

 

When Philip tells Nathanael the good news, Nathanael isn’t convinced and answers, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip tells him to come and see.  When Nathanael meets Jesus, Jesus says in John 1:47, “Behold an Israelite of whom is no guile”. Nathanael answers, “How do you know me?”  Jesus replies, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you”.  Nathanael suddenly believes but only the Holy Spirit can convince.  Nathanael could have thought it was some kind of trick or simply hardened his heart but the Holy Spirit convinced him.

 

When I became a true Christian, God used scripture to convince me and I tried to wrestle out of it but it was impossible.  I fought all night with God knowing that to be a true Christian meant giving up everything.  Eventually I gave in.  Just like Nicodemus in John 3, he came to Jesus at night time and I’m sure he had to wrestle with God’s words too.

 

Night time (spiritual night) is the best time to meet with Jesus because we are in darkness and that is the right time for needing light in order to see clearly.  It’s when we are in sin that we need a saviour, John 3:19-21.

 

John 3:5, “Unless you are born again”, we need the Holy Spirit for a spiritual birth.  John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  That is the way with the Holy Spirit, He goes to whom God wishes.  The Holy Spirit blew on us and gave us life spiritually in the same way God blew on Adam and Eve and gave them physical life.  Adam didn’t ask to be created or given life, that was God’s choice to blow on him.

 

Before the Holy Spirit touched my life, I was walking around in darkness but I didn’t know it.  Then the Holy Spirit blew on me and suddenly I can see what I didn’t before.  I saw that I was a sinner and that I needed Jesus.  I began to understand the Bible which didn’t make much sense before.  The Holy Spirit blew on me and gave me life.

 

As this verse says, you can’t see the wind but you can see the effect of it.  When a person is saved, we should see the effect of this salvation, we should see fruit of the Holy Spirit.  We should see joy, patience, love, forgiveness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, faithfulness and peace.  Not only should we see these fruits but they should be growing and getting bigger and bigger.

 

More than once in my life I have been at a meeting in a Pentecostal church and the believers have asked to pray for me so I can be baptised in the Holy Spirit.  When I explain that I have been baptised, they don’t believe me because they think the sign is speaking in tongues.  This is one thing that really annoys me.  The sign to know if you are baptised in the Holy Spirit is NOT speaking in tongues.  The sign is whether the fruit of the Holy Spirit is growing in you. 

 

For example, if my lemon tree grew tall and provided shade for my dog and branches for the birds, this would be nice but it wouldn’t prove the tree was a lemon tree.  The lemons prove which tree it belongs.  If I have the fruit of joy, patience, love etc, then I prove I belong to God.  If I have the fruit of selfishness and bitterness, I prove I belong to satan. 

 

Speaking in tongues isn’t proof you belong to Jesus because even satan can provide you with that gift but what satan can’t do is transform you into the likeness of Christ.  As Jesus said to Nathanael, “you will see greater things than these” and what is greater than seeing people’s lives transformed?  There is nothing greater than seeing a person changed from an impatient, judgemental, rude, proud person to one who is kind, merciful and compassionate.